Today is Shakespeare’s birthday and international World Book Day, as well as World Book Night. World Book Night is a celebration of reading and books which sees tens of thousands of passionate volunteers gift books in their communities to share their love of reading. It began last year in the UK and is now being celebrated for the first time in Ireland, the US and Germany.
Last year, Northern Lights was one of the titles being given away as part of the million book giveaway that is World Book Night. This year, there isn’t a Pullman book on the list – but we’re giving you the chance to win one of two World Book Night books: Rebecca or Notes From A Small Island.
All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning one of these books is send us an e-mail at contest@bridgetothestars.net by midnight GMT on the 30th of April, with the subject line “World Book Night” telling us which book you’d like to receive. Anyone can enter, wherever you are in the world, but in the spirit of World Book Night, we ask that if you win you pass the book on to someone else to read. Good luck!
His Dark Materials fans who visit Oxford’s Botanic Garden can now enjoy an audio guide from author Phillip Pullman. The Garden has special importance to fans of the series due its role in the heartbreaking conclusion of The Amber Spyglass. As a result, Pullman has been asked to record part of a voice guide for the garden, in which he talks about its significance to Will and Lyra, in particular a bench which plays a key role in the young couple’s story. Pullman told the Oxford Mail that he thought the audio guide was a great idea, and that he was particularly keen to contribute due to ‘the bench’, as it is known to fans: “It’s a nice bench in a very nice place – the Botanic Garden is such a lovely thing to have in Oxford.”
Pullman also offered a brief update on the much-anticipated His Dark Materials companion work The Book of Dust, insisting that it was proceeding well and would be finished just as soon as: “I write the words: ‘the end’â€.
Penguin Classics has confirmed that they will be publishing Pullman’s take on the Grimm fairy tales on the 6th of September this year, with the title Grimm Tales: For Young and Old. A year ago, BTTS exclusively revealed that Philip Pullman’s was working on the adaptation of a number of the classic tales of the Brothers Grimm. Pullman told BTTS last year that his retelling would not just be for children, and that:
“I’m telling the best of the tales in my own voice, and I’m finding it a great purifier of narrative thinking, rather as a pianist relishes playing Bach’s preludes and fugues as a sort of palate-cleansing discipline.â€
It has now been revealed that the book will feature Pullman’s 50 favourite tales including Rapunzel, Snow White and Cinderella, but also lesser known tales including The Three Snake Leaves, Hans-my-hedgehog, and Godfather Death. Pullman has said his favourite Grimm Tale is The Juniper Tree. The book will also include analysis of each tale, and an introduction discussing the legacy of Grimms’ Fairy Tales and no doubt the influence they have had on Philip Pullman’s own writing.
